In many kinds of web winding apparatus, a web is directed through a nip between two rotary elements and around one of the rotary elements. Often this is done as an initial step during the cinching of the web to the respective rotary element. This can be cumbersome in some cases, in which movement of the web through the nip requires one or both of the rotary elements to be driven and the cinching requires the web to be stopped and/or requires a manual operation. Additional problems exist in particular uses, in which is desirable to protect the free end of the web from damage. This makes cinching by means of inserting the free end of the web in a slot in the rotary element or other deformation or damage to the web due to cinching unacceptable. An example of this kind of use is cinematography related film winding, in which the free end of the film can have otherwise usable images.
Bernoulli effect guides and supports have long been used to support and move webs while protecting the webs from damaging contact. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,559,301 and 3,567,093 disclose Bernoulli effect guides for straight and curved paths. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,904,148 and 3,918,092 disclose magnetic tape self-threading about a helical path containing a rotating head. The tape is pushed through the constrained path and the Bernoulli effect is used to constrain the tape to a particular path along a plate.
It would thus be desirable to provide winding apparatus and methods, in which a web is guided by the Bernoulli effect and is directed through a nip between two rotary elements and around one of the rotary elements.